Amazing Spider-Man Family #1 in Review

24 Comments

1. Reading this i finally took a break from this job. I have a hardware store, and i get kinda stress throughout the day =) your post just provided me a few minutes of relax =] I wish i could find a rss feed on your site, so that i could subscribe for some more. Ill be sure to come here more often from now on =)

2. I never realized there were so many Spiderman fans out there. I came across this site looking for the original Amazing Spiderman comic book but there is also so much other stuff here too. Thanks!

3. Mike. *smile*

   The last time I checked Spider-Man was in fact a “real character.” A real honest to goodness fictional character in a fictional story. Has been since the summer of 1962.

   The previous story (OMD) taints everything that comes after it because the aforementioned “real character” made a deal with the Marvel devil – himself also an actual “real character” in a fictional story. In that respect OMD and even BND are still ongoing.

   It’s true. I prefer a married Spidey. And I have no problem with the Spidey that existed when he was single before he got married. The “real character” has always been about responsibility. Getting married opened up a whole new avenue of responsibility.

   This is the fun part where I get to point how my logic’s fine and yours is totally and completely wrong. In comparing John Byrne’s Superman to All Star Superman, you fail. Your logic is flawed. All Star Superman isn’t told within existing DC Universe continuity. It is not an extension in any way of the Byrne Superman. Now had All Star Superman been set within DC continuity, you’d have more ground to stand on. But that ground would still break under you as the Byrne Superman would be part of the base that All Star (again, had it been set in DC continuity) would be building on.

   Have a great summer!

4. “There’s no way to like an unmarried Devil dealin’ Spidey, not for me. Pretty much starts and ends there.”

   George, you’re logic is flawed. I read Spidey, and he didn’t actually make a deal with the devil, because he’s not a real character. OMD was written by Joe Quesada, and yes, it was junk. 4 other writers write BND Spidey.

   How does a previously published story affects a current one? it doesn’t. Each story is only as good as the writer writing it. John Byrne’s Superman crap doesn’t affect the quality of All-Star Superman.

   And you don’t like an unmarried Spidey? Then throw away Amazing Spider-man #’s 1-294 or so, plus the spin-off titles.

   Use logic, and you’ll see how silly you’re behaving.

   -Mike-el

5. Gotta, agree with Greg on this one you can’t knock something till you’ve tried it. Ya, OMD was garbage but alot of good stuff is going down in BND not to mention you have to look at what was happening before OMD, I’d rather have a magically unmarried peter parker then a spider-man who comes back to life in a cocoon and has spikes in his arms. If you don’t like BND why not just give that part of the comic a bad review instead of insulting someones hard work.Oh, and by the way saying your not going to like it before you have even read it is ridiculous especially since your a reviewer how do we know you don’t have a predetermined review for any type of story you think your going to like. ‘Hey this story is awsome cause spider-man is still married, this story sucks cause he’s not’ I don’t need to give reasons cause I’m a prereviewer I know whats good before it even comes out.

6. Okay guys, as a member of the review staff who wants these comment sections to be a safe place for readers to offer their input, can we all please dial it back and quit the name calling?

7. No. Being a douche is cutting up someone’s work and mailing it to them. Being a mega-douche is including a “polite” letter with it so you can feel less douche-y about yourself.

8. Seeing as how OMD was done specifically to set up BND – yeah BND is guilty of the same sins, Greg. BND being done by different people than OMD doesn’t magically change what happened. It only compounds it.

   I’ve said everything that I need to regarding sales and that’s all I’m going to say because this is becoming cyclical.

   You misunderstand me, Greg. I’m not happy that me cutting out Brandnewverse pages is upsetting to anyone but you. I honestly don’t think Wacker would be all that offended by it. If anyone at Marvel does wind up offended by it (though everything offends Brevoort) so be it. It’s not like they haven’t been complete asses to a lot of us for the past eight months. Now the note I sent *was* polite and I congratulated Wacker for people saying he was doing a good job. I don’t know how else I can make you understand that. I’d dumb it down for you with puppets or construction paper cut-outs so maybe it’d make more sense to you but something tells me you *do* get it.

9. Since you don’t care that not one single issue of the current run of ASM has mentioned a deal with the devil, I guess that means you feel that EVERY new editorial and creative team must bear the “sins” of the editorial and creative team before them. That’s really enlightened view you have.

   Bottom line on sales: combined sales of the three titles versus the combined sales of the previous three titles are up. When you say “Quesada said wrecking the marriage would make the character more accessible. Clearly it hasn’t. End of story.” it shows that you can only see things in the short term. Did you think Joe Quesada expected a horde of new readers to magically appear? Or, is it plausible, that he may have expected new readers to come to the book in the long run? Considering that most of the growing readership today comes from the TPB market, wouldn’t it make sense for new readers to find the book after the TPBs of it have come out (which they haven’t yet for BND)?

   And since it appears that you are happy with the fact cutting up someone’s work and sending it back to them might be insulting, then it looks like everything you said BEFORE about being polite was obviously BS and you know it. Thanks for clarifying that.

10. Not mentioning the deal with the Devil doesn’t make it go away, Greg. Spider-Man’s not the same to me anymore, period.

    Bottom line on sales: they’re down. Quesada said wrecking the marriage would make the character more accessible. Clearly it hasn’t. End of story. And while part of me would like to believe Tom Brevoort on Marvel’s super secret hidden numbers, he has no credibility with me.

    And if you’re insulted by me removing the BND printing error from ASM Family, Greg, then I’m great with that. It tells me I’m pissing off the right sort of people.

11. If you’d read any of the 20+ issues of the current ASM, you’d know that there has been no mention of a deal with the devil. There are a lot of readers who have said that they didn’t like OMD but enjoy BND, you could be one of them. You’ll just never know because you’ll never try.

    Yes, there were 120K at the launch. That’s because it was a launch. You can see an almost identical issue-to-issue dip in sales from the large number of people who bought Captain America #25 to how many were still buying Cap practically the same number of months later. People show up for the launch and numbers level off. What’s your point?

    You could also say that the numbers the book has now is comparable to the sales on the book before JMS tied the book into a year or so of major events. And you could also point out that those 70k feel strongly enough about the title to make a $9 commitment to ASM, a commitment they weren’t making for the previous run. Shouldn’t that count for something too? And, given what Brevoort said in his CBR interview, a large enough block of readers have PICKED UP the book in subscriptions (which are NOT included in that 70K), that the book could comfortable “float on submissions alone”.

    As for your actions towards Wacker: You cut up his work and sent it back to him. That’s insulting. Saying “Hey I didn’t shred the WHOLE issue” doesn’t make it less insulting. That’s just a rationalization, giving yourself credit for not being worse.

12. I won’t like it. There’s no way to like an unmarried Devil dealin’ Spidey, not for me. Pretty much starts and ends there.

    And sure, I admit some folks appear to be liking it. In January there were what, 120K of them? Now that’s down to what, 70K?

    Greg you’d have a point on me being insulting if I’d put the whole issue through a shredder and mailed that back with a nasty note. Which is far from what I did and you’re still conveniently ignoring the praise I gave the rest of ASM Family and King Size Spidey Summer Special. I also give Wacker credit for being someone who I don’t believe would take offense over what I did, knowing how opposed I am to BND. He seems to have a sense of humor, unlike Brevoort.

13. You don’t have to try it to THINK you won’t like it. You do have to try it to KNOW you won’t like it. And you DEFINITELY have to try it before you, as a “reviewer”, take the extra effort to DUMP on it. (A pretty easy concept to grasp).
    Surely there have been things in your life that you THOUGHT you wouldn’t like UNTIL you tried them.

    And BND is not “liver” or a “sewer” of any kind. It’s a comic book which, as you HAVE seen around the internet, that a LOT of people DO like. (Far more then you could possibly toss aside as being “sewer” fetishists.) So there has to be SOMETHING redeemable about the book. It’s just something you’re not man enough to try. 🙂

    It’s nice that you don’t have anything against Wacker. You have a funny way of showing it though. Because it takes effort to cut up something he worked on and spent time on, and then mail that back to him. That’s insulting. Most people (even those not named Greg) have the capacity to understand how insulting that could be.

14. I don’t have to try it to know I don’t like it. I don’t eat liver either and I’ve never tried it and I know I won’t like it. Why? Cause it’s the sewer of the body and it’s really not a part of the animal that I want to eat. In my mind BND is precisely that – the sewer of Spidey. Quesada’s “swingin’ single & devil dealing” Spidey. And I want no part of that. If I really had something against Wacker, which I don’t (which everyone here whose name is not Greg knows), I wouldn’t have just given positive reviews to two books he edited this month.

15. How about instead of me “unclenching”, you actually TRY the Green Eggs and Ham instead of bagging on it all the time.
    That comes off as the ultimate-clench. You constantly rant on and on about something you’ve never even tried.
    That’s the exact opposite of giving a good review.

16. Unclench, Greg. You’ll feel better.

17. Only worth a comment to say: the book didn’t contain a “printing error”. It contained a story about a continuity you can’t be bothered to read. That’s fine. That’s your choice. IMO, cutting up something that someone (editor Steve Wacker) worked on and sending it back to him unread is not a class move. It’s rude and insulting. Adding a letter where you pretend to be polite doesn’t absolve you of that rudeness, because your insistence on calling his work a “printing error” is meant to insult him. I know there are others here who think what you did was a great way to stick it to the man. But we all know that Steve Wacker came on board after OMD was already set. So way to stick it to him. I’m sure he really appreciated your input and the fact that you chopped up his work.

18. Thanks folks! =)

19. Well done sir, well done.

20. It´s the one and only Spider-man comics these days ! De Matteis´story and Mr and Mrs Spider-man were fantastic. marriage is good and it proves that Spider-man marriage won´t broke Spidey´s comics.

21. Bear, once again, I love you! You go get those hippies! *snicker* And here’s hoping that there won’t be anymore printing errors!

22. what’s wrong with hippies anyhoo??

23. George, you are right about smacking hippies with it! It worked great and it only ruined the printing error!

24. I agree, george… Spider-Ham WOULD make more sense than JLApe… I mean Marvel Apes… at least there was an ape villan running around in DC that kinda justified it… ever so slightly…